WASH YOUR HANDS!!! Nurse rant for the month! 1/17

garlic7girl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/how-the-fit-stay-healthy-during-flu-season/2013/12/17/d620cebe-6284-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html?wpisrc=nl_health


Boy oh boy I have read some serious arguments between professionals over whether nurses should be fired if they choose to refuse to take the flu vaccine or not. I mean these professional people saying some not so nice things to each other...quite comical to me but anyway...some even argue about the flu vaccine period let alone with nurses.

But one thing I read on the CDC is when that doctor of yesterday discovered that germs are on our hands some hundred years ago and we should wash hands...PLEASE tell me why in sophisticated 2014 I still see folks at my job when I go out to restaurants who walk out the bathroom without washing their hands!!!!!!!! I have posted it before about this topic and I will keep repeating


IF YOU WANT TO KEEP WORKING OUT HARD AND BEING A BEAST ALL WINTER...WASH YOUR HANDS AND MAKE ALL IN HOUSE DO SO TOO! First line of defense! Rant over from your neighborhood Nurse-hero!

WW

WarriorCupcakeBlydnsr

Lab Tech/ Public Health Official chiming in here: DITTO!

Also, remember this regular plain old soap and water work fine for washing hands, it does not have to be antibacterial soap (small part of the problem with microbes becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.... don't get me started on doctors who give out antibiotics like candy and people who when they do get them, because they need them, they stop taking them before they finish the full prescription because they "feel better".) Easy way to know that you got your hands sufficiently washed: sing the Happy Birthday song through twice (you can sing it out loud or to yourself, doesn't matter).... three times if you sing it fast because you want to get on your way.

Hand sanitizers: ABSOLUTELY USELESS the way people use them. For the hand sanitizer to truly work better you must do the following: totally saturate your hands (I'm talking your hands have to be dripping) leave it on your hands to AIR DRY for at least 10 minutes (ie no touching anything, no wiping your hands on your shirt/pants/ best friend, no towel drying, nothing). Let's put it this way, in the lab to clean off our benchtops that we can't use bleach on (where all our cultures and samples and blood tubes are for our work and some tests are bleach sensitive) we saturate the surface with a 70% alcohol solution and let it sit on the surface for 15 minutes before we can wipe it down then we put on a direct UV light for at least 10 minutes.... how well do you think that sanitizer that is working if you only have it on your hands for 2 seconds?

As for the flu shot, I believe it is a personal choice, but I give you this food for thought: the lab that I work in tests ALL samples collected for flu within the state (we handle patient samples and sentinel chicken samples, so we're getting samples to be tested for regular plain old seasonal flu, H1N1 formerly known as swine flu, and H5N1 known as avian flu). I have no contact with any patients, if I am helping out in that department I am wearing a lab coat, double gloves and I work in a biosafety cabinet to handle the samples, I am otherwise not in contact with the samples or the people that work on them in that department. I am required to have my flu shot every year (the only reason I could refuse it is if I have an allergy to eggs since the vaccine is cultivated in eggs)... and I really don't have a problem with it. Also, you can't get the flu from a flu shot, the virus is dead, this is not a frankenstein virus that will come back to life, it's dead all it is doing is giving your body the ability to recognize and respond to a foreign body, if you get sick after getting the flu it is most likely due to that you were EXPOSED BEFORE YOU GOT THE VACCINE (remember it can take 2-7 days minimum from exposure to symptoms for viruses and bacterias... these babies need time to grow enough in your system for them to affect you, and the healthier your immune system is the faster it responds, the shorter time you're affected and in some cases, you might not even get sick!

Public Health rant over too.

verdemujer

I love you both!!!!! I have skin bactria that if I use the antibacteria soaps, they blow up and cause nasty sores (impetiago and staph - lovely - not!). If I don't use the antibacterial soaps, the good bacteria do their job and keep the bad bacteria in check. So - no antibacterial junk in my house thank you very much. I probably could do a better job washing my hands - I tend not to sing happy birthday.

The other thing is, even if you wash your hands properly, don't pick your nose or rub your eyes very much as those are pretty much immediate pathways into your system and germs love them - nice temps, lovely mosture, great environment for rapid growth. There have been a few studies that say even if you wash and santizie very well, if you do either of the above on a constant basis, then you are pretty much gauranteed to get sick 75% more than someone who doesn't.

AlwaysInMotion

Wash yer hands - with soap - people!!! Why is this such a hard concept?!?

Forgive the mini-rant: Whilst I was in nursing school, I'd watch doctors go from hospital room to room (they're the worst carriers, really) and not wash or sanitize (agreed, rather useless) their hands before or after. I was in a full isolation precautions room (signage at the door, supply cart outside, I was all gowned up so it was mighty obvious if you made it into the room), this oblivious doctor walked in (no handwash), set her germy clipboard on the bed, then proceeded to perform vitals on patient with her bare hands. Come ON!!! If highly trained medical professionals won't do it (wash hands, pay attention), then how can I expect my patient zero germ carrier boyfriend to do it?!?

FYI: I now feel the overwhelming urge to go wash my hands - with good old soap and water.

pinkfanatic68

It blows my mind too, that people don't always wash their hands. Especially health care professionals. When in doubt wash your hands. I agree with you that the flu shot should be a personal choice and NOT mandatory. Last flu shot I had was fall 1997. I had side effects from it. Then I managed to get the flu twice that season, and it was hard to shake both time. I remember waking up Christmas Eve with the flu that year. Oh well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!